Toilet seat cover and method of forming same



Feb. 6, 1940. DQERR 2,189,562

LET SEAT COVER AND METHOD OF FORMING SAME Filed Feb. 10, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet l JM/hZOT 6701/67 -0 0'er7; 424 MM zzom Feb. 6, 1940. e. DOERR TOILET SEAT COVER AND METHOD OF FORMING SAME Filed Feb. 10,- 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 J77l 677Z07 Graver Q02?" 2a;

' UNITED EiNT Q I C TOILET, SEAT- oo'vnmnm Mmnon OF' FORMING; SAME Grover Doerr, near Brownstown; Ind. ApplicationEebruary 1; 1939,, Serial .No; 255,659 4 Claims. (01193-1) This invention relates to a. sanitary. cover. for;

toiletseats and to the pro'cessfor makingit. A.

primary. object of the invention is. tozform aflan e seat, cover .out1of.. a. soft material, such. as. crepe paper, ina continuous manner whereby. the .cove

erstmay be produced in strip form .in .a. continuous;

process-so. as toreduce: the: cost of. manufacture: andalso: to permit; the storing'of. the covers vin strip," i orm in; suitable... vending. carriers.

by tearing from the strip the required. length, preferably. determined. by. perforated lines or. by any. suitable. marker. permitting; tearing or; out? ingof the length ;from..the, strip; 1.

It .is a; further. importantobject of the. invention toform the covers initially detachably united one-to. another; in; a. curving strip. that .maybe.

wound upon either-aconical spool. or. about: a.

mandrel ito preserve therequireddegree of .curvature to cause the .unit.c,over; to iconformsubstane tially to the-curvature;of;the seat.

By employing :theprocess herein. described, the downturnedflangeto engage about the seatmaybeformed. on either. the.inner. or. outer edgeof. the; cover to :contactithe seat. accordingly, the flange-being. hereinshownin the present form' of: theginventionzias. being on the; internaliedgeof. the; cover.

These. andmany other. objects .and advantages; ofthe, invention will become apparent: to: those versed: in the,..ar.t; in. the.v followingzdescription of.

the invention. as. illustrated more. orless. diaea at cally. inthe accompanying drawings, in

which. I I

Fig. 1' is a schematic view inxperspectiveof. a stretching mechanismyfor. carrying; out; the processof the invention;

Fig. 2,;a detail on an. enlarged scalev of the.

40. shaping, ro11ers;.

Fig. 3, av detail. in. cross; section on. the; line 3-3 in Fig. 1;

Fig. 4, a detail in planzview of:.aafragment-:of

crepepapem; a

andvending container,; 1 1 l Fig. v6, a front view. in.perspectiveof a modified form of container; and;

Fig, 7,. a view similar to Fig. 2; showing. a modified form of, shapingrollersi.

Like characters of i reference; indicate; like parts throughout thexvariops views in the drawings.

Crepe paper is obtained in strips to have a width equal that required to cover the upper side of one side of a toilet seat and to extend downmeral Ill. in; Fig, 1.

Intheiormoftheinventionhereim shown, the. unit cover is obtained from a continuousstrip.

Fig. 5., a front view;in;perspective of .a storing,

wardly over; an edgev thereof; a. sufiicient distanceto form apositioning-and retaining; flange; This; strip; is preferably. provided wound in cylindrical; fashion; upon a. roller, as, indicated by the-nu: The strip, generally desig nated; by the numeral, I] is then ,formedtotheequ d: s ape by, stretching; certainf'p rtionsq f. the strip so that the stretched pap er;;wi1l,;then; assume. and embody a. definite and permanent curvatura.

Crepe paper is..yobtainablez commercially which: will permit stretchi gv of portions; thereof; with-.. out. stretching other: portions thereof. While, suchipaper; may be elongated as. much; asone; hundred per cent or-more. without afiectingthe;

. strenethz r tur eep p r, t is p n rrtakes;

aipe-rmanent set, since the. paper instretching. has no material'elasticity. I

With thispeculiarzquality of the paper in mind, the process then consists, indrawing the-strip I! through any suitable deforming means which; will stretch. an outer marginal,portionon; the side A- without stretching a portion Bqadjacent. the; other marginof the stripv and atthe. same, time-, also stretching a narrow marginal portion; adjacentthe areaB to, form a marginalflangfi C; One, particular mechanism. for accomplishing this; result is tdcarrythestrip-H undenarollerl2; and;jthence upwardly o,ver;av generally conical roller; I3; which tapers. down to, a, throat. M: and thenxrapidly enlarges. conically. to form the flange ingend I5, Fig. 2. ThestripH is guidedunden the roller. l2: and. carriedover. the. roller I3; to, havethe: zoneB. at. the throat UL A- gripping conical" roller 16 shaped complementary tothat oflthe rollerl3; bears downwardly. on the strip l l compressibly thereagainst as a means for feeding the strip over the roller [3 and to aidlin completing the forming thereof.

- Sincethe stripofpaperl l must be-carried t0 a higherelevation at the large diameter-endof the roller l3 than it is across the throat. 14; the portion Y of the strip designated as the; zone A, must therefore, be elongated. and pulledv out:

wardly whilev there is nodappreciable stretchthrough the zoneB, the degree of stretch varying from substantially zero at I the; zone, B, to, the maximum at theouter marginal edge of: the .zone A, Also that; part of g the strip which is, carried.

' upwardly: on;the. flanging .ends I 55 of; the: roller; l3.

must be stnetched.;sinee it;:musttrayelztoialhighen elevation than does the part of the strip across the throat I4. The roller I!) resists unwinding sufiiciently to create the desired tension in the strip II during its deformation over the roller I3.

Of course, by varying the angularity of the roller I2 in respect to the axis of the roller I3, varying degrees of stretching of the paper in the strip I I may be effected. However, in the present form, Fig. 1, the axis of the roller I2 is parallel to the axis of the roller I3. Increased stretchin of the zone A is had by dropping the left-hand end of the roller I2 downwardly in respect to the axis of the roller I3, and less stretching by reversing the shifting thereof.

As the strip II leaves the rollers I3 and I6, it curves around in a more or less spiral manner as indicated in Fig. 1, and by having the formed strip fed onto a table II, Fig. 5, with a central upwardly extending mandrel I8, and revolving the table I! in accordance with the rate of travel of the strip II, the formed strip may be wound therearound. The strip is preferably marked or perforated as by the perforated line I9, Fig. 1, to define the length of paper required to form a complete seat cover. This marking or perforating may be accomplished by any of the wellknown devices customarily employed for such purposes. The marking, of course, can assume a pressed line or a score along which the paper may be easily torn.

As indicated in Fig. 5, the table I! may be dropped down into a container 20 and a cover 2| inserted thereover to guide the mandrel axle 22 so that the strip II may be pulled through an opening 23 in the side wall of the container 20 and torn off as the marking line appears external of the opening or the edge of the opening may serve as a knife edge to effect the severance of the paper by pulling the paper upwardly or downwardly against either edge thereof. It is contemplated that the container 20 form a suitable vending machine, the details of which do not enter into the present invention.

Instead of having. the paper strip II come out and be wound in a flat stacked manner as indicated in Fig. 5, the paper strip may be carried from the rollers I3, I6 directly to a re-wind roller 24 of the same general shape as the roller I3 so that the paper may be wound therearound with the flange still being preserved in its proper relation to the balance of the sheet. In this form, the strip could be withdrawn from the roller through a suitable slot inthe side of a rollercarrying box 25, as indicated in Fig. 6. In this form, the paper is brought oil" from the under side of the roller in the same relation as it would appear when placed upon the toilet seat, that is, the flange C is downturned to engage around the inner edge of the seat.

It is understood, of course, that the strip II as it leaves the rollers I3, I6, as indicated in Fig. 1, is in an upside down position and requires reversing of the individual lengths for use on the seat.

The stretching action of the crepe paper is indicated in Fig. 4 where the edge A is shown by the dash lines as being carried around into the stretched condition whereas the other edge of the paper is in a less stretched condition.

Of course, the forming device comprising the rollers I2, I3, I6, may be operated by any suitable means, or by hand, such as a crank 30 so that instead of having the formed covers stacked or rolled for future delivery, the crank 30 may be turned to deliver one complete cover as and when required.

It is obvious that the same product may be obtained by substantially the same process by employing a suitable paper and corrugating the inner edge portion, to shrink, in effect, that portion so as to curl the paper around in a plane to the desired curvature conforming to that required. The product would be the same-in the first described product, the outer edge portion of the cover has less wrinkles or corrugations than has the inner portion, and in the second described product, the two portions are in the same state. To produce the cover by corrugating the flat sheet II, the rollers I3 and I6 would be provided with intermeshing corrugating ribs 26 and 21 respectively, starting at fulldepth from the small diameter ends of the rollers and extending at least partially along the rollers, as indicated in Fig, 7, to a shallower depth or tapering out into the smooth periphery at the large diameter ends of the rollers.

While I have herein shown and described my invention in the one particular form, it is further obvious that variations may be employed in the particular means for altering the length of one edge portion in respect to the other edge portion of the paper and I, therefore, do not desire to be limited to the precise form described beyond the limitations as may be imposed by the following claims.

I claim:

1. That method of making shaped toilet seat covers which consists of longitudinally stretching an area along one side of a strip of crepe paper initially having transverse wrinkles to cause the strip to assume a planar-curved condition approximating the contour of the seat, and longitudinally stretching said strip over a narrow transverse width along the opposite strip edge to form a flange angularly disposed to the balance of the strip therealong.

2. That method of making shaped toilet seat covers which consists of longitudinally stretching an area along one side of a strip of crepe paper initially having transverse wrinkles to cause the strip to assume a planar-curved condition approximating the contour of the seat, said area being gradually stretched longitudinally from a minimum degree along a zone adjacent the other 1 side to a maximum at the outer edge of said first side, and also longitudinally stretching said strip over a width extending from said zone outwardly to said other edge to form a flange.

3. A toilet seat cover in the nature of an annulus comprising a strip of crepe paper having a downturned marginal flange substantially smooth and free of transverse wrinkles, a wrinkled zone extending from the flange and gradually merging into a substantially smooth zone adjacent the edge of the strip removed from said flange.

4. That method of forming and vending toilet seat covers which comprises pulling a strip of flat wound crepe paper from a roll thereof, stretching the outer edge portions of the strip to curve the strip into approximate seat contour and to cause one edge to turn angularly from the strip to form a seat retaining form, and tearing off a length of the curved strip sufiicient in length to extend around the seat.

GROVER DOERR. 

